Vtec, I think Hondas are like Levi jeans......they are fair traded and the price is pretty much the same all over.
As I think I've mentioned before, a friend of mine with almost 50 years of commercial repair on small gas powered equipment told me. "If you buy a generator buy a Honda". This was strickly from his repair/dependablity expirience.
I have two, 2000 & 3500 that I use for different things. Like one of the last posters said , more for power outages at home than camping. I will happily say the the 2000 ran my roof air on the SD for 8 1/4 hours on a tank of gas during a 25 hour power outage with a 90 degree night time temp.
BTW, even though I try to run them on a schedule for maintanence I do add STA-BIL or Seafoam as they do sit unused for a while.
Sorry Vtec, I got a bit sideways but I don't think you're really going to find any big difference on a new price. I did buy my 2000 used and it's been fine. Maybe the poster that hasn't used his genny in four years may want to sell it

When the word generator is mentioned, the solar people all pop up withe the solar is better. For alot of applications it is ...but for quickly recharging your batteries, or running an air conditioner or other higher powered equiptment your going to need either a very large battery bank or a generator.

I went with a yamaha ef2400 only because after huracaine sandy and being with out power I got the smallest generator that could run my mom's fridge and the 2000 watt model would be struggling to do the job (I think the compressor when running needed around 1800 or so watts) so I went with the next size up and that's yamaha's model. They are fairly similar but mine is a bit larger and heavier.

Back in about 2008 this site had a deal with Wise Sales on the internet. E had a new 2000i sent to the house with a battery charger cord thrown in for about $850. Total. All we had to do was mention this site and the deal for price and the charger. Was no problem. We love the Honda.

Isn't the new Honda TD3000I generator supposed to be powered by a 25cc Turbocharged Diesel.... Uses but 2 oz. of fuel an hour, puts out 3000 watts, weighs 27 lbs., and is so quiet that they had to put a proximity sensor on it so users didn't trip over it when it was running? (LOL)

I bought it new from a Honda Dealer in Merced California, on sale for $900.00 about 8 years ago

I keep it because we get cold winters and our power goes out occasionally in the winter.
It runs my pellet stove.

I ran it the day I made the post as I haven't run it since last summer.
Fortunately I had gas stabilizer in it and it started on the second pull.
Can't beat anything Honda.
John

I was kiddin' around with my "Red arrows" post, Perry- just a a sorta tongue-in-cheek suggestion that your garage might be the "place to look for a bargain", it containing a four-year-old genny that is virtually unused.

I purchased 2 Honda 2000 gennies to run the roof air. One 3000 watt Honda weighed too much for me to heft around. That being said we have only used the AC one time in 2 years when boon docking.
I have also used one of the Hondas to re-charge my group 27 battery when discharged to about 85% after an evenings use with CPAP and lighting draws. It took about 3 hours to get the battery to 100% charge with the Scamp's stock converter doing duty. That was un-acceptable to me.
I now use solar to silently do the same job in about 2 hours with a MTTP controller on sunny days, and about 4 hours when gray. No noise, no fuel.
We still haul one of the Hondas to run the microwave for potatoes, or for charging when dark.
As to buying "red", you may pay a little more, but you are buying into a stellar reputation for quality that has been proven. If they weren't worth the price nobody would buy them. I have never been disappointed with any Honda product, and I have owned many.
Last weekend we were camped at Doheny Beach CA. As we were enjoying an evening cocktail the camper in the next site fired up his $295.00 6000 watt generator to re-charge his batteries. It sounded like it was going to take off to the moon. He ran it for 3 hours at about 98DB. I sure wish he would have invested in solar......, or at least a Honda.
My ears are still ringing.
Russ

Lots of good advise (advice, btw, I know the difference but could not get the title changed, lol).

We tend to camp at nice quiet national forest campgrounds or state parks. I laugh at some of the noisy generator comments. last summer we were at least 7 very large sites away from the loudest generator I ever heard in my life. They ran it for about 4 hours in the afternoon. When it shut off there was complete silence around the entire lake for about maybe 20 seconds. Then the whole campground erupted in cheers and hollers of "Glory be! She's off!!!" That's a big reason why I'm gonna go with a nice quiet Honda.

We must all have cabin fever with the amounts of comments. Can't wait to begin camping and get out of this winter which has been very bad in WI this year. Anyway, yes, will be using it for camping mostly but outages as well and a few other items or places too. Not that I won't also consider solar as I am very green in thought and practice. The cpap machine put me over the edge for generators. Before it(cpap) I stopped breathing 32 times an hour when tested. I was nearly dead so I can't go without. Cpap is the best thing I ever did. I sleep hard and never take naps or nod off after work anymore.

Question about charging a battery on a Scamp. Should I be charging to the camper plug or direct drive to the battery. Last poster said it takes 3 hours through the camper power. Would it be better to use the 12v directly to recharge. The battery does very well and we use little power except for the cpap machine at night. I would just need to top off every other day or so on extended trips.

Dave,
My Scamp had the American brand converter. It was a basic unit that was not "smart". It also was mounted in the rear of the trailer while the battery was on the tongue. The wire size was small, so voltage to the battery was lower than ideal and required more time to charge, and never really got a full charge. I switched out the converter to a Iota which has a smart charging scheme. The wire size was increased so the battery was getting enough voltage to do the job. It now charges in about the same time as the Morningstar MTTP smart solar charger which is pretty optimal for the battery. I use the Iota for maintenance charging when home in lieu of the solar due to the panels being portable and having to deploy them. Both systems do the job.
As Darwin posted, there are generators other than Honda that are quiet, but listen before you buy.
Russ

The posters who recommend Wise Sales or Mayberry's are pretty much correct. Depending on time of year & other factors, they will probably be as competitive pricewise as anyone. I've had my 2000i for probably 8-9 yrs. Pretty sure I got it from Mayberry's but may have been Wise. Wise website right now shows $999 while Mayberry's shows $949. Next month prices may be just reversed or, both may have 'em for a few dollars less. As another poster mentioned, prices don't vary a lot between dealers. They're worth whatever you pay...